Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality health care than whites do, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable, says a new report from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine. The committee that wrote the report also emphasized that differences in treating heart disease, cancer, and HIV infection partly contribute to higher death rates for minorities.

Alan Nelson
Retired physician, former president of the American Medical Association, and
current special adviser to the chief executive officer,
American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, Washington, D.C.
and
Chair, Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and
Ethnic Disparities in Health Care.